The Android devices I've had the displeasure of using (Galaxy S2, Nexus 4) reboot/crash/hang on a more regular basis than any Windows computer I've used in the last ~10 years. I used WebOS devices for a while before switching to Android, and I don't remember the last time either of those crashed or needed to be power-cycled. My iPhone 1 was an unreliable piece of garbage, though, so I guess I can't specifically shit on Android here.

Anyway though, 'people don't want their phone to BSoD' seems a rather unsupportable statement: modern 'big seller' Android phones suffer from surprisingly poor quality control, especially if you install the OS updates on a regular basis. If they're not introducing some sort of hang/crash bug, they're breaking one or two of the built in applications. I remember one of the recent Nexus 4 OTA updates broke one of the built-in preferences panels under Settings - how do you ship an OS release without testing that?

Ultimately cool new features and apps are more compelling to people than actual stability, judging by how many of my smartphone-owner friends complain about phone crashes and hangs. They're still using those phones and buying the latest models...

Same here. Two different top-of-the-line Verizon/Motorola phones, both have an average uptime of a few days. Generally due to a crash, but sometimes because performance is so terrible I have to reboot it. And thanks to the carrier's lockdown (for stability, they'll surely claim), I can't actually debug any of the performance issues.

If anybody knows of an Android phone that actually works reliably out of the box, I'd be excited to hear about it.

My MotoX has never crashed/rebooted on me.

Thanks. Mine is being delivered this afternoon; I got the developer edition so that I can root it without fear.